Success Camp- Summer 2021

We had a great first day of camp, starting off the day passing out water bottles, splitting into groups, and creating name tags. The campers were then welcomed with a brief introductory meeting. The first activity was a scavenger hunt where the campers were tasked with finding different classrooms and buildings , along the way they met multiple faculty members. The rest of the day was full of fun "get to know you" activities. The groups were also introduced to librarian, Margi Putney, and were given their first assignment of high school, summer reading. 

During the camp, students will have various times to get a jumpstart on their summer reading. Today their iPads were introduced with a very hands on experience. Students have access to their summer reading books, and other various sources via the iPads. 

Today the campers took a trip to Castleton University, and began with a brief introduction speech from some Castleton faculty members. Then, the students split into groups and tour guides led them around the campus showing various classes, dorms, dining spaces, and more. After the tours concluded, campers were offered bagged lunches. Yesterday, we passed out shirts for all the campers, today we had asked the students to where their matching BBA success camp shirts.

Today half of the campers took a trip to the Hildene Farm and Mountain Campus. The students got an inside look at the Dene farm garden, greenhouse, and barn. They were introduced to a few staff members, some being BBA alumni or soon to be graduates. 

The other portion of this trip was at The BBA Mountain Campus in Peru. The students took part in forest walks, writing prompts, and a small scavenger hunt activity.

Today student went up to the high ropes course, and had the option to challenge themselves, and try to complete the 3 different elements available. The students were introduced to the ropes course by Andrew Macarthur. They were given safety precautions, and told how to stay safe during the challenges. The main focus of the high ropes courses are to work, adn support eachother as a team, completing the elements is not our primary focus

The week prior to this, the students got to pick which of the different intensives they wanted to participate in this week. The options consisted of Mountain Campus, Dene Farm, athletics, arts, and STEM. The campers had lots of time during this week to socialize with other students of similar interests. The intensives are intended to be both fun and educational. Not only do the activities often encourage teamwork, they also provide further time to get to know their future teachers. 

We celebrated the last day of camp with pizza, families, and fun. The students also were tasked with writing final reflections, thinking about their time spent at the camp. Celebratory gift cards, and backpacks were given out by Jason Pergament and Billy Canfield, during the final speech of the camp. The main goal of The BBA Success Camp is to unite and introduce students to Burr and Burton. We hope that the campers thoroughly enjoyed their time at success. The camp was aimed toward giving the students a smooth and easy head start to their time at BBA. Although it wasn't completely "normal," we hope they continue to use the many now available success resources.